Rise And Fall of The Roman Empire. Special copy for educational purposes. Many have forgotten the reasons behind the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Gloucester, Virginia Links and News website. Incredible.

1. REFLECTIONS
On
CAUSES
the
Rise
The
Fall
and
OF T H
of
E
ROMAN EMPIRE;
Tranflatcd from the French of
M.
DE
E C O
S
N D A
T,
Baron de Montesquieu.
THE FOURTH EDITION.
To
which
is
added,
THE ELOGE OF
M.
D E M O N T E
By M.
,d e
Mau
S
p e
a
J
rtu
E U,
I
I s.
GLASGOW:
Printed
by
Robert U r
MDCCLYIII,
» rl
i
e.

2. X /*^
/

3. THE
L O G
E
E
OF
DE MONTESQ.UIEU.
M.
Tranflated from the
DE MAUPERTUIS.
M.
From
Ti
French of
the
MONTHLY
REVIEW.
Authors of the Monthly Review.
the
Gentlemen,
SINCE
to my
you were
pleafed to give a place
in
firfl letter,
yonr Supplement
the Reviews of the pad year, I
raged to proceed in
reign books as
your
may
my
am
to
encou-
abfta£ls of fuch fo-
deferve the attention of
readers.
-"
I have lately met with
nothing more remarkable than a fmall Pamphlet,
bearing this
title
—
/J^r
Af.
I!,loge de
Monfteur (/^MoNTESQur u,
Maupertuis. Hambourg, 72 mo.
It has
always been the laudible cuitom of
rt^d'
A
2

4. Elo G
V
E
n
the French academicians, to celebrate their
Members
deceafed
and
ric;
in this
academy
at Berlin
;
tesquieu belonged.
that
M.
Maiipertuis
academy
;
in
an eloge, or panegy-
they are imitated by the royal
which the great MonI need not inform yon,
to
is
the prefident of that
nor are you unacquainted with his
flime in the mathematical world.
If your
readers, fuchof them, I mean, as underftand
the French language, are inclined to fee
fe-
veral excellent orations of this kind, I will
recommend
nelle,
to them, thofe
of
M. deFonte-
which are printed with the
reft
of his
works.
As the moft minute intelligence concerning
,
the lives or writings of great
men, will always
engage the attention of the Literati, fo there
are, doubtlefs, many of your readers who
will not be difpleafed with
me
for extending
my account of this little volume, beyond
limits
which, to fome,
Our
it
the
may feem to require.
''
It
author thusbegins his oration.—
not, fays he, the
cuftom of
this
academy,
to lament the death of her foreign
members
is
in a particular panegyric: this
would
be, in

5. M.
fbme
v
Montesquieu.
i^E
meafiirc, to invade the rights of thofd
nations to which they
more immediately
longed. But there are
men
to the reft of
mankind,
a better claim to
To
that
much
be-
fuperior
no one nation has
them than another
as
they
be given to the whole universe.
^¥e, then, claim our right in common with
feem
;
to
the reft of .the world.
If any thing could prevent our attempting
the praifes of M. de Montesquieu, it v/ould
be, the greatnefs of the fubje£l, and the confcioufnefs of our
own
Every
infufiicieiiCy.
other academy, however, that was honoured
with
his
name,
vvill
not
fail
to
do juftice
memory, and they may more
to his
happily acquit
themfelvesof ihetaik, than wefhall. But
it is
impoiTible to fpeak too
places,
of a
to fcience,
much, or in too many
man, who was fo great an honour
and to humanity; nor can
often prelent the image of a
we
too
Montesquieu,
age, when men of letters feem fo regardof morals; in an age, when they have
in an
lefs
endeavoured
too
to perfuade
much fuccefs,
mankind,
that the virtues
v/ith
but
of the mind
and of the heart are incompatible. Let theni
A
3

6. Elogeon
vi
eyes on the
caft their
When
QuiEu.
many
fublime and juft;
when they
his penetration to
have been a
they will then, perhaps,
that vice
virtues u-
,
J
whofe underftanding was both
nited in a man,
man,
of Montes-
chara<5i:er
they find fo
is tihe
find a
man of
fl:ri<Slly
moral
be convinced,
natural efFe6l of an imperfe£l
underflanding.
M. Montesquieu was
1689,
in the
Chateau de
born
la
in
the year
Brede,
within
three leagues of Bourdeaux, of an ancient and
He
noble family.
from
his infancy,
The
firft
work,
applied himfelf, almoft
to the fludy
produfl of
his
civil
law;
early genius was, a
which he undertook
in
of
prove, that
to
the idolatry of mofl part of the pagans did
not deferve eternal punifhment.
book
his
prudence thought
fit
But
to fupprefs.
this
In
1 7 14 he was made counfellor of the parliament of Bourdeaux; and in 1 7 1 6 prefident
a mortier.
member
In
this j^ear
of the
he was
alfo created
new founded academy of the
725 he opened the parliament
and eloquence of
fpeech, the depth
fame
city.
with
a
In
i
which were convincing proofs of
abilities as
an orator.
The
his great
year following
4

7. '
M.
he quitted
D'E
Montesquieu.
his charge;
Vii
fo excellent
which, in
a m^giflrate, would have been inexculable,
if, in ceafing to execute the law, he had not
put
it
in his
law
to render the
power
itfelf
more perfe^.
In 1728 he offered himfdf a candidate
for a feat in the ^cademie Francois to which
-
his
I
Lettres
Persannes
(publiflied
72 i) feemed to give him a fufiicient
in
title
:
flrokes in that
yet fome, rather too bold,
work, together with the great circumfpe(Stion
of that fociety, rendered the matter dubious.
Cardinal Fleury, alarmed with what he had
heard concerning thefe letters, wrote, to let
the academy
know,
that the king
would not
have them admit the author,unlershe thought
proper to difavow the book. M. Montesquieu declared
that
he had never owned
himfelfto be the author of
fliould
never difavow
it.
the Lettres Perfanues,
it;
The
but that he
Cardinal read
found them more
agreeable than dangerous, and
Montesquieu
was admitted.
Our
orator proceeds to give us a fliort ac-
count of
he
left
M. Montesquieu's
travels.
When
France, he accompanied his intimate
*A 4

8. EL
viii
i.
Lord Waldegrave,
riend,
Vienna and
;
N
G E
In his
after feeing alfo
embafly to
Hungary, Italy,
Switzerland, and Holland, he ended his tout
in Great-Britain; where, meditating
fprings of that government,
M.
Maupertuis,
fo rriany,
in
upon the
which, fays
fcemingly, incon-
gruous advantages are united, he found
all
the materials that were wanting to complete
the great works which lay wrapt in his imar
gi nation.
No
fooner was he returned to France, than
he retired
La Brede: where,
to
for the fpace
of two whole years, feeing nothing but books
and trees, he v;rote his Confideratiofis on the
of the grandeur and decline of the Roman
To
Empire, wiiich was publilhed in 1733.
caufes
this
work he
deflcfned to
have added
on the Englifj government
e!^,cellent
treatife
has
)
a
book
but this moft
Hnce found
a
more
hh. Efprit des Loix, with
proper place in
which he obliged the, world in the year 17^8.
The
precedino;
may be
works of M.Montesquieu.
regarded as
io
many fteps leading up
which heerevTled to the
to this great temple,
mankind. How happy Vv'as it,
fehcity of
that a
man
of his enlightened unaerflunding

9. M. DE MoNTESaUlEU.
ix
of that
applied himfelf fojcly to the fludy
fcience,
which
is,
of
all
others, tlie moll:
His Lettres perfannes have, no
doubt, been frequently miiiaken for books
iireful
!
of mere araufement; but an intelligent reader
will fee them in a very dilferent light. Some
parts of them, indeed, are, perhaps, not wrote
with
fo
much
The
wiflied.
caution as might have been
fofter paflions
are generally
painted incolours rather too lively: but vices
and
follies
are expofed, in fuch a m.anner, as
to afford matter of fpeculation and entertain-
ment
The
to ihofe
ftyle
of the mofl: philofophic turn.
of thefe
letters
is
laconic, pure,
and
brilhant; in which the chief merit ot books
may
not, indeed, properly confiil; yet,
to thefe ornaments they generally
fuccefs.
In fhort, never was there
wifdom expreffed
nor
fo
owe
much good
in fo agreeable a
it
is
their
much
{o
manner,
fenfe condenfed into fo
few
words.
After having fiiewn, continues our eacomiafl, the effe(n: of the human paiTions in
the breaft of one man, he then proceeded to
confider
mankind
in
the airembiao-e
chofc, for his peculiar objeft,
A 5
the
;
^nd
Roman

10. X
Elog eon
nation, as the
mod
difficult
to
thing,
it
People
not be, to
!
degree foever
fenfe,
to
may be
it
be a
how much more
mark out
Human
it
trace the efFe<^s of our
pafiions in an Individual,
mud
If
conrplcuous.
thofe of
{o
whole
a
what extended
poiTeiTed,
will,
without experience, be found unequal
to the
tafk.
with
lege,
There is required
a
perfe£l acquaintance
fa6ls; that laborioufly-acquired
which
genius!
is
fo
rarely united to a fublime
M. Montesquieu's
this fubjeCi:,
know-
are evidently
reflections
the
refult
upon
of a
continued and complete (ludy of hiflory. It
is from an exa£l: feries of events that he draws
confequences the moftjuft. Thefe ii^^tf?/o^s, etc. fo full of profound reafoning, may
be confidered
as
an abric^ement of the
what
hiflory, capable of fupplying
is
Roman
wanting
in Tacitus himfelf.
Thefe works,
rally led
fays
Mr. Maupertuis, natu-
our author to
a third,
more important one; namely,
his
and much
Traite de
the many
JJEfprit des Lois. Amongft
different forms of government which exifl,
there are three principal ones, diftinguifhed
from the reftj T)emocrncy, where the pov^^er

11. M. DE Monte sQ,urEU.
is
equally diriributed to every
xi
member of the
community; Monarchy where the power
j
is
centered in one perfon, but fubject to the
guidance and regulation of certain laws; and
where, all the power is united in
one individual, without laws or limitation.
'Defpotifniy
government have a
peculiar principle or fpring upon which the
ftate may be faid to move.
That of a de-
Each of
thefe kinds of
mocracy
is
virtue] that of a
monarchy,
mur-j and that of a defpotifm;, /t'^r,
/;<?.
Thefe
three motives are differently modified in
every intermediate kind of government; but
each of thefe will predominate in proportion
as the
government approaches towards
kind of which it is the fpring. From
fburcc,
M.Montesquieu draws
all
that
this
the rules
applicable to every kind of legiflation that
hath exiiled
arife^
and
;
folves
and difplays every
This
defeft.
thrown more
political
polTible
fingle
advantage
oblervation has
both upon our civil and
laws, than can be colle<fl:ed from
light
many huge volumes
upon
every doubt that can
that
have been written
thefe fubjecls.
From
the
firft
page
to the laft
of this book.

12. EL
Xli
nature of
the
G E
O N
M. Montesquieu's
(li(lin<rtly vifible;
fonl
is
of mankind,
and his fentihappinefs,
His pi6lure of AHatic
his great love
bis Jeiire
for their
ments of
Jiberty.
defpotifm, of that horrid government where
one fees but one Lord, and all the red in
one of the beft prefervatives from
fuch an evil.
The fame wifdom appears hi
Slavery,
is
his advice
how
may
from too extenfive an equality.
as one
arife
to g-uard
atiainfi:
the evils that
We may confider M. Montesquieu
of thofe
and
fages
who gave
laws to the people;
without injuring the memory of
If his treatife be
Solon, or of Lycurgus.
this
not that fydem of legiilation which would
render mankind the moft happy, it contains,
at leafl:, all the materials of which that fyflera
fhould be formed.
•
They
are there, not like
precious ftones and metals in the mines,
mingled with grofs heterogeneous matter;
here
all is
pure,
were indeed
to
all is
gold, or diamond.
be wiihed that
order had been obferved
thefe jewels, that none of
out of their places
been a more
'<*:•
:
in
more
the pofition c^
them had
but then
perfefl:
a little
It
it
v^'ould
flione
have
fyftem of legiilation.

13. M. DE MoNTESQ,UIEU.
xlii
formed by the human
than will ever be
genius.
We
cx)nfers,
Montesquieu,
fa^^s
in
our Orator,
explaining the caufes of
that variety obfervable
in
the
manners of
different people, in their laws, in their
of government, and even
has attributed too
of heat,
M,
that
much
form
in their religion,
to climate, degree
and aliment; and that fome of
air,
his realbnings,
on which thefe explanations
are founded, ^lave not the force he fuppofed.
True
that thefe phyfical principles
it is,
be admitted
to a certain
degree; and
may
it is
alio
as true, that in having fometirnes extended
their influence a little too far,
M. Montes-
quieu does, by no means, deferve the cenfure
which envy would have infinuated. Yet thefe
him
philofophicai and literary critics gave
vineafmefs.
cate.
againft
little
Reafon was his fufficient advo-
But there was another kind of
whom
the voice of reafon was
critics,
lefs to
be depended on. Thefe gave him great
uneafmefs for he was a man who ought not
;
have been fufpc^ted. He was threatened
-with no lefs than to fee his book condemned,
to
or himfelf obliged to
make
certain retracla-

14. ELbG
XIY
E
ON
which, to a man of his
tions,
fincerity,
wquli
have been extremely mortifying^ Yet, r.fcer
a long, and more judicious, examination, the
Sorhonne thought proper to acquit him. How
could it be imagined, that one, who had done
fo
much
harm
for the benefit of ibciety,
to religion
The number
could do,
!
of criticifms that have beeri
written upon PEfprit des Loix, will be an
eternal reproach to the learning of our times.
feldombeen attacked with any fliadovv
of juftice; too often without decency. After
It hath
having forgot w^hat was due to reafon, they
grew unmindful of what they owed to the
perfon of a man, of
relpedlable.
He
ail
others,
the moft
was torn by thofe kind of
who, not being able to fubfift by
own productions, Hve on what they can
vultures,
their
fnatch from the
works of others. But he was
defended by fome very excellent pens.
a?id Eucrates,
The'JDialogiie betzvee?i Sylla
LyJimaquCj and the T'eniple de Gnyde, were
alfo
written
by M. Montesquieu
though of a different kind, do not
cate their author, than his
;
and,
lefs indi-
more profound

15. M. DE Montesquieu.
compofitions.
is
no enemy
No
They
xv
prove to us, that wifdom
to mirth.
Mr. Maiipertuis. had
(boner, fays
his
Majefty honoured me with the
dire£lion of his academy, than I propoled
PrufTian
M. Montesquieu as a member. Onr whole
fociety well knew the value of the acquifltion,
and he received our
ful fenfibility.
a
letter to
offer
Thefe
with the moft grate-
are his fentiments, in
me, on the occadon
:
even the
Mr;
mofl carelefs and familiar lines from
Montesquieu
will
be always valuable where-
foever they are found.
My very dear and illiiflrious Brother,
You
Paris.
received a letter from me, dated at
I received one of yours written at
Potzdam
;
which,
as
it
Vvas
dire£ted
to
Bourdeaux, fpent above a month upon the
Thus was I long deprived of ^^^^
road.
real pleafure I
feel
at the
receipt
mark of your rememberance.
confolation that I did not find
both
my heart and mind
fearch of you.
you with what
It
is
of every
I yet
want
you here; and
are yet in continual
impoiTible I fhould
refpe6l,
tell
with what fentiments

16. E
XVI
of gratitiule, and
L O G E
if I
N
O
may be
allowed to fay
with what joy, I learn, by
yonr letter,
academy has done me the honour to
it,
that the
me one
admit
of
its
members.
Nothing but
3^oiir
friendflitp could have perfuaded the refl
that I might afpire
to a
feat
among ihcm.
me emulation to encreafe my
You would, indeed, long fince have
experienced my ambition, had I not feared
This
will give
worth.
to torment
your
confpicuous.
friendfliip in renderino-
You muft now
finiili
the
it
work
you have begun, by informing me how
I
am
behave on the occafion; to whom, and ia
what manner, I am to exprefs my gratitude.
to
Do
you condu£l me, and
If,
guided.
in
I fhall be well
your converfation with the
king, you could £nd a proper opportunity
to fignif}^
let
it
my thankfulnefs, I beg you
efcape.
I have nothing to offer to that
great Prince, except
am
folation
diftinguifli
forry to fee that 3^ou yet
for the
and in
my admiration;
do nothing that will
from the reft of mankind.
this I
I
will not
me
want con-
death of your father.
I
it is
myfelf am fenfibl_y affefled with it
one reafon the more to diminifli our hope
:
I

17. Monte SQ.UIEU.
M. DE
of feeing you again.
may
attribute
fence, but
to
know'not whether I
I
moral or
my
foul
my
I was
fenfation.
where
it
is
happy
happy
numerous
ngthing of
ef
ph3^fical
fufccptible of every
at
my country-houfei'
I faw nothinc: but
lefs
x^mi
trees,
and
I
am no
crowds of people,
I alk
the fands on the (ea.
in Paris, amidil
as
this earth,
rotation round
its
but to continue
center
my
not that I would
:
willingly defcribe circles equal in m/mutenefs
to yours
and
when
at
Torneo.
Nov. 25,
i
74^.
Mr. Maupertuis proceeds
the fame candor which
MoNTESQUEiu
charaiSterillic
my dear
I embrace you, etc.
illuflrious friend.
Paris,
Adieu,
to tell us, that
M,^
dillinffuilhed
was
in his writings,
alfo his
converfation with the
in his
He was the fame man viewed in
He appears even, if poffjble, more
lights.
world.
all
extraordinary
when we
member of fociety,
never
our Orator,' having
him
than as an author.
found, fublime, in his
imlru6led,,ajiKi
confider
fimpllcity,,
oifcii^ded.
iiad-thfe
quent thole fociciies of
as
a
Pro^
he charmed,
J mv{tjAf,-fays
bappinefs to
which he was
a
fre-
meiun

18. EL
XVlli
GE
ON
ber, have been frequent witnefs of the
im-
patience with which he was always expelled,
and the univerfal joy that appeared on his
arrival.
The modefly and opennefs of his
niein bore great refemblance to his converfation.
*
He
was extremely negligent of his drefs,
defpifing every thing that went beyond being
decent.
His cloaths were always of the
:
plained; kind, without
or
The
(liver.
table,
and
nomy.
found
any ornament of gold
in
fame fimplicity reigned at his
every other part of his oeco-
His paternal
it,
eftate
he
left,
as
he
neither increafed nor diminifhed.
On the
he
iothofFebruary,inthisyear [1755]
died, as he had lived, without either often*
ration or pufilanimity, acquitting himfelf of
every duty with the greatefl decency. During his indifpofition, hishoufe
was
incciTantly
crouded with people of the firft diftiuiHilon
in France, and fuch as were moft deferving
of
his
Her Grace the Duchefs
who will permit me to mention
friendfliip.
d'Aiguillon,
* Some
particulars of his perfbn are mentioned; as, that
be was well proportioned
and that he had ahnoft entirely
loft the
fcarce obfight of one eye ; though that defed was
;
fcf vable.

19. M. DE
her name upon
M ONTESQ.UIEU.
XlX
(M. Montes*'
this occafion
QuiEu's memory would lofe too much were
I not to name her) fcarce ever left him a
moment: ihe received
his
lail:
faw him, and there
hi her
houfe that I
began
the friendfhip that hath aiForded
much
delight.
firfl:
To
this
was
It
fighs.
Lady
I
am
me
fo
alfo in-
debted for thefe circumftances of his death.
The
fweetnefs of his difpofitions,
me, continued
to his
very
laft
flie tells
moment. Not
a fingle complaint efcaped his lips, nor even
the lead: fign of impatience. Thefe were his
words
to thofe
that ftood
around him
alvjays paid great refpeB to reUgton
morality
of the gofpel
is
:
:
/
^he
a mojl excellent thi?7g,
and the mojl valuable prefeni that could pojfibly
have been received by man from his Creator,
The
him
Jefuits
who were
to deliver
up
near him, prefTing
of the Z^/-
his corrections
he gave to me, and to madame
manufcript, with thefe words
tres Perfannes,
du Pre,
his
/ will facrifice
religion
:
—
every thing
confult tuith
ivhether this ought
to
to
reafon
my friends, and
appear.
He
and
to
decide
had a
pleahire in the prefence of his friends, and,
as often as
an interval of eafe would permit.

20. Elogeon
XX
he would join the converfation, His fit u at to
he
me, was
told
ji',
cruel, but not without
caufes ofconfol(Hion: fo fenfible
many
was he of the
public concern, and of the affe(^ion of his
friends.
Myfelf and
his attendance almofl:
Duke
Madame du
day and
M.
de Nivernois,
Pre were
The
night.
de Bucley, the
fa-
mily of Firzjames, the Chevalier de Jeau^
court, etc. in fliort, the houfe was always
and even the
full,
But
all
as the
ftreet vt^as fcarce paflable.
our care and anxiety was as ineffedlual
of his phyficians. He died in the
llcill
thirteenth day of his illnefs, of an inflamma-
tory fever, which had feized every part of
Rim.
M. Montesquieu was
married in 171 5, to
Jeanne de Lartigue, daughter to Pierre de
Lartigue, Lieutenant-colonel of the regiment
de Maulevrier.
By
this
and two daughters. His
Lady he had
a fon
fon,
M.deSecondat,
diflinguiflied for his phyfical
and mathemati-
knowlege, was named to fill his father's
place in the academy of Berlin. M. Chateau-
cal
brun,
who
fimplicity
him
has introduced the ancient
upon
in the
Greek
the French flage, fucceeds
academy
Fran9oifej and in that

21. M. DE MoNTESQ,UIEU.
of Cortonne he
friend
is
XXl
worthily replaced by his
Mr. Condainine."
This, Gentfemen,
is
the fubftance of the
will not think I
panegyric before me. You
have been too particular, when you confider
this article,
not only as an account of
Mr.
Maupertuis's Eloge, but of that great man's
writings who is the fubjedl of itj that the beffc
account of an author's
his
works
;
and
life is
the hiftory of
that the author of
whom we
have been fpeaking, was Monfieur de MonTESQjUIEU.
I have the honour to be,
GENTLEMEN,
Your very humble
fervant
B

22. i
flS"

23. (
XXlll
)
CONTENTS.
Chap,
I.
I,
THE
inftincy
it
II.
III.
IV.
Of
of Rome* 2. The "wars
Page 25
fuftained.
the fcience of luar as pra6lifed by the
Romans.
35
The methods by which the Romans raifed
I
»
themfelves to empire,
Of the Gauls. 2.0fPyrrhus.
lel
41
/.
Paral-
between Carthage and Rome, 4. The
Hannibal,
45
war of
V. The flate of Greece, of Macedonia, of Sy*
and of Egypt, after the deprejfion
57
of Carthage.
VI. The condtiSi which the Romans obferved, in
ria,
order
VII.
How
it
fifl
VIII.
Of
to
was
fubdue
all nations.
for Mithridates
the Romans.
poffible
69
to re^
82
the divijions which always fubfifted in
the city.
85
IX. Two caufes which deflroyed Rome.
X. Of the corruptions of the Romans.
XI.
Of Sylla, Pompey, and
93
99
102
Caefar.
XII. Qbfervaticns on the flate of Rome after the
death of Caefar.
117
XIII. Auguftus.
XIV. Tiberius.
XV.
Remarks on
gula
XVI.
124
134
to
the emperors
Antoninus.
from Caius
Cali•
I
40
Confiderations on the flate of the empire
from Antoninus to Probus.
153

24. CONTENTS.
XXIV
XVII. Changes in the flate.
Page i 68
XVIII, An account of fame tievj maxims received
i7<)
hy the^ Romans,
'
XIX
.
Some particulars of the grandeur of Attila,
The
eftablifloment
of the Barbarians ac'
Reafons why the Weflern
empire 'was overturned before that in
counted for.
187
Eafl.
XX.
-
I
.
The conquefls of Juftinian. 1 Zome aC'
count of his government.
19 7
.
208
Diforders in the Eaftern empire,
The' 'meaknefs of the Eaftern empire. 21^
XXIII. I. T'he duration of the Eaflern empb^e acXXI.
.
XXIL
counted for. %*
Its defiruClion,
229

25. REFLECTIONS
On
the
CAUSES
of
The Rise and Fall
O
THE
F
ROMAN
EMPIRE.
CHAPTER
I
.
The Infancy of Rome. 2
E
mnfl: not
JVars itfujlained,
form to ourfelves an idea of
the city of
Rome,
in its infancy,
from
which
exiO: at this time,unlefs
have in view thofe of the
dim Tartars, built for
the cities
we
The
.
I.
the (lowing and fccuring of pkmder, cattle, fruits,
and other produce of the country. The antient
names of
the chief places in
Rome
are
all
relative
to this ufe.
The
was even without (Ireets, unlefs we will
name to the continuation of roads which
city
this
give
center in
it.
The
houfes were draggling, built after
an irregular manner, and very fmall; for the inhabitants being always either at their work, or in
the public fquare, were very feldom at home.
But the greatnefs of Rome foon appeared in its
public edifices. Works which {a) have raifed, and
(.1)
Seetheaftonifhmentof DionyfiiisHalicarnaneuson theaque*
built by Tarv^uin, Ant,Rom.. iii. They arc (lill
fubfirting.
duds
B

26. The Rise and
26
flill
raife,
ed under
Fall
the greateft idea of
its
of the
power, were form-
kings. They began already to lay the
foundation of that city, which was to be eternah
its
Romulus, and his fucceflbrs, were engaged in almoft perpetual wars with their neighbours, to ehcreafe the number of their citizens, their women,
and
their territories.
They
ufed to return to the
the fpoils of conquered nations ;
city, loaded with
and thefe fpoils, which confifled of wheat-fheaves
and
flocks, ufed to
Such
is
the origin
afterwards, chiefly
fill them with the
greateft joy.
of triumphs, to which that city,
owed
its
grandeur.
of the Romans was greatly increafed by their union with the Sabines, a fl:ubborn warlike people, refembling the Lacedaemonians from
The
whom
of
ftrength
they fprung.
their fliields,
Romulus
which were
{a) copied the
large,
form
and ufed them
€ver afterwards inflead of the fmall buckler of Argos: and
which
it is
to be obfervcd, that the circumfl:ance,
chiefly raifed the
of the world, was,
Romans
to the fovereignty
their laying aflde their
own
cu-
ftoms as foon as they met with better among the
people they conquered ; and it is well known that
they fought fucceflively againft all nations.
It was a maxim then among the republics of
Italy,
that treaties
made with one king were not
obligatory tov,'ards his fucceffor.
of law of nations
(/;)
This was a
among them.
fort
Thus every
to by one king of
thing which had been fubmitted
they thought themfelves difcngaged from
Rome,
under another, and wars continually begot wars.
{a)
{b)
Plutarch's
life
of Romulus.
This appears throughout the hiftoryof the kings of Rome.

27. Roman Empire.
The
very
reign of
-well
tj
pacific,
;
and had
their territory in that
confined, and their
lefs
power
was
hum-
adapted to leave the Romans in their
ble condition
been
being long and
Numa,
greater,
age
it is
probable their fortune would have been fixed for
ever.
caufe of the profperity of Rome was, that
No other hiflory
her kings were great men.
us with an uninterrupted fuccellion of fucb
prefents
ilatefmen and fuch captains.
One
all
In the infancy of focie ties, the leading men in the
form the conftitution ; afterwards the con-
republic
flitution
forms the leading
men
in the republic.
Sextus the fon of Tarquin, by violating the
chailiiy of Lucretia, took fuch a flep as has fel-
dom
to drive tyrants from the cities over
the}' prefided ; for when once a people are
ftrongly fenfible, by the commilTion of fo
failed
which
made
enormous
of the flavery to which they are
reduced, they immediately form a defperate refoa crime,
lution.
A
people
may
fuffer,
without murmuring, the
impofing of new tribute?, fince they are not certain
but that fome advantage may accrue to themfelves,
from the
an
infult
difpofal
of the monies fo levied
:
but
whea
put upon them, the}' are aiFe<fled with
their misfortune only ; and this they
aggravate, b;^
fixing to it the idea of all the calamities which can
is
polTibly happen.
It
mufi:
however be con fefied,
that the death
of
Lucretia did no more than occafion,
accidentally,
the revolution which happened ; for a
haughty, enterprizing, bold people, confined within walls,
B ^
muft

28. The Rise and
2,8
Fall
of the
neceflarily either ibake oiF the yoke, or foften the
afperity
of
From
their
manners.
the fituation of things at that time,
this
was the refult either that Rome iTiould change the
form of its government, or continue for ever a fmall,
;
poor monarchy.
IVIodern hiftory furniilies us with a very remarkexample of what happened at that time in Rome ;
able
for as
men
have been fenfible of the fame pafTions
rife to great
ages, the occafions which gave
revolutions are various, but the caufes are for ever
in
all
the fame.
As Henry VII of England increafed the power
comm.ons, merely to humble the nobility;
"of the
fo Servius Tullius enlarged the privileges of the
the fenate ; but the peopeople, in order to deprefs
afterwards bolder, ruined each of the
growing
monarchies under which they lived.
No flattering colours have been employed, in the
ple,
us of Tarquin ; his name has
Dot efcaped any of the orators who declaimed againft
his calamities,
tyranny; but bis conduct before
pifture which
w^hich
evident he forefaw;
and
his gentlenefs
the conquered, his beneficence to
towards
it is
humanity
is left
the foldiers, the arts by which he engaged fuch
num-
bers to endeavour at his prefervation, the edifices
he raifed for the public ufe, his courage in the field,
the conlbncy and patience with which he bore his
carried
misfortunes, a twenty years war he either
or caufcd to be carried on againft the Romans,
on,
and very poor;
though deprived of his kingdom,
thefe things, and tlie refources he perpetually found,
he wa s nocontemptible perfon.
prove manifeftly,that
The rank or place, which poacrity beftows, is

29. Roman Empire,
29
vhim and caprice
to the reputation of thit monarch
fubje£t, as all others are, to the
of fortune
:
woe
becomes the
oppreifed by a parry which after
or who has endeavoured to deftroy
prevailing one;
who
is
a prepofldFion that furvives him.
The Romans, after having banidied their kings,
appointed confuls annually, a circumftance which
contributed to raife them to fo exalted a pitch. In
all princes there are certain periods of
ambition, and thefe are afterwards fucceeded by other paiTions, and even by indolence ; but the com-
the lives of
monwealth bemg governed by magi Urates who were
changed every year, and
who endeavoured
to iigna-
themfelves in their employment, in the view of
obtaining new ones, ambition had not a moment to
lize
it v.-as that thefe
magiftrates were ever
the fenate to ftir up the people to war,
perfuading
and pointed out to them new enemies every day.
Hence
lofe.
do
This body (the fenate) Vas inclined enough to
this of their own accord ; for, being quite tired
of the complaints and demands of the people, they
endeavoured to remove the occafion of their difquiet,
and to employ them in foreign wars.
Now
the common people Vv^ere generally pleafed
with war,becaufe a method had been found to make
it
beneficial to
that
them, by the judicious
was made of the
Rome being a
city in
diftributioii
fpoils.
which neither trade nor
iiouridied, the feveral individuals had
of emiching themfelves, but by rapine.
An order and difcipline was therefore
in the
(a)
way and manner of
See Polybius,
Book
x.
B
3
pillaging
arts
no other way
eftablifhied
(^z),
and
this

30. The Rise and
^6
was pretty near
Fall
the fame with that
of the
now prai^ifcd
among the inhabitants of LefTer Tartary.
The plunder was laid together, and afterward*
diftributed
among
the foldiers;
not even the mi-
nuteft article was
he
fet
loft, becaufe every man, before
out, fwore not to embezzle any thing; be*
Romans were, of all nations, the moft
obfervers of oaths, thefe being conildered
religions
as the finews of their military difcipline.
iides that, the
In fine, thofe citizens,
who
home, fhared
of the
conquered lands was confifcated, and this was fubdivided into two portions, one of which was fold
alfb in the fruits
of the
ftaid at
vi<ftory
;
for part
for the benefit of the public, and the other divided
by the commonwealth, among fuch citizens as were
but in poor circumftances, upon condition of their
paying a fmall acknowlegement.
As the confuls had no other way of obtaining the
honour of a triumph, than by a conqueft or a vi-
made them rufh
^lory, this
parallelled
into the field with un-
impetuofity, they marched
direiftly to
tht
enemy, when
Rome
force immediately decided the conteft.
was therefore engaged in an eternal, and
ever-obHinate war
:
now, a nation chat is always
war, and that too from the very frame and
flfence of its government, mufl: necefTarily be de-
{a')
at
ftroyed, Cir fubdue all other nations; for, thefe
being fometimes at war, and at other times in
peace, could never be fo able to invade others, nor
fo well prepared to defend themfeJves.
By this means the Romans attained a perfect:
{a)
The Romans
according to Varro,
foreigner
who
confidered foreigners as enemies: Hoflis,
Lat. lib. iv. fignid^d at firil a
De Lingua
iived accordiug to his
own
laws.

31. Roman Empire.
31
the military arts : in tranfient wsrs
knowlege
mod of the examples are loft ; peace fuggefls difin
ferent ideas, and
we
forget not only our faults, but
even our virtues.
Another confequence of the maxim of waging
perpetual war, was, that the Romans never concluded a peace but when they were victorious ; and
indeed, to what purpofe wovild it be to m.ake an
ignominious peace with one nation, and afterwards go and invade another?
In this view their pretenfions rofe always in
proportion to their defeat; by^this they furprized
the conquerors, and laid thenifelves under a greater
of conquering.
Being for ever obnoxious to the moft: fevere vengeance ; perfeverance and valour became neceffary
neceffity
and thefe could not be diftinguilhed, athem, from felf-love, from the love of one's
virtues:
mong
family, of one's country, and whatever
is
dearefl
among men.
The fame
America
had happened to
in late ages
;
Italy,
which befel
the natives of the former,
quite heiplefs and difperfed up and down, having
religned their habitations to nev/ comers, it was afterwards peopled by three different nations, the
Tufcans (^), the Gauls, and the Greeks. The Gauls
had no manner of relation or affinity either with
the Greeks or Tufcans; the latter formed a fociety
which had
rals;
(a)
its
It is
not
known whether they were
country, or only a colony
former opinion,
mowho defcended from
peculiar language, cufloms and
and the Grecian colonies,
;
originally of that
but Dion. HalicainaiTeus
lib. i.
B 4
is
of the

32. The Rise and
32
different nations that
Fall
were often
of the
at variance,
had I
*
pretty feparate interefts.
The world
in ours
in that age
was not
like the
traffic
world
the eftablidi-
voyages, conqueft,
flatcs ; the invention of poft-offi-
:
;
ment of mighty
ces,
with
of the fea-compafs, and of printing
general polity, have
a certain
made
;
thcfe,
corref-
pondence much eaficr, and given rife, among us, to
an art called by the name of politics every man fees
at one glance whatever is trsnfa^ed in the whole
:
univt rfe
;
ambition,
and
all
if a
people dlfcover but ever fo
the nations
little
round them are immedi-
ately terrified.
The
people of Italy had (^) none of thofe en-
gines which were employed in lieges: and further,
2S the foldiers were not allowed any ftipend, there
was no poiT-bility of keeping them long before a
town or fortrefs: hence it was, that few of their
thefe fought from no other
wars were dccifive
:
motive, but merely to plunder the enemies camp
or his lands ; after Vv'hich, both the conqueror and
the conquered marched back to their refpe^live cities.
This clrcumftance gave rife to the ftrong reuhich the people of Italy made, and at the
fi(ance
fame time to the
inflexible refolution the
Romans
formed to fubdue them ; this favoured the latter
with vi'fiories, which no ways depraved their molals, and left them in their original poverty.
(a) D.HalicarnafT declares fbejcprefly, lib ix.and this appears
by
hiftory
:
tliey ufed
toattempt the fcalado of cities with ladders.
Ephorus relates that Artsmoii the engineer invented larjTc
Pericles vas the fit ft
machines to batter the ftrongeft wall.
V ho made ufe of them at tho fiege of Sarnos, as Plutarch tells
us in the
life
of
thit general.

33. Roman Empire.
Had
the Pv.omans
neighbouring
cities,
33
made a rapid conqiieH: of
they would have been in a
th
-
de'
of Pyrrhus, of the
dining condition at the arrival
and of Hannibal ; and, by a fate common
Gauls,
would have
to mofl: governments in the world, they
made too quick
a tranfition
from poverty
to riches,
and from riches to depravity.
But Rome, for ever flruggling, and ever meetwith obfiacles, made other nations tremble at its
to extend
power, and at the fame time was unable
ing:
and exercifed, in a very narrow compafs of
were to prove of
ground, a train of virtues that
it;
the moft fatal confequence to the univerfe.
All the people of Italy were not equally war'ikc:
thofe
who
inhabited the eaftern part, as the Taren-
and the Capuans; all the cities of Campania,
and of Graecia Major, v/ere quite immerfed in indolence and in pleafures; but the Latms, the Hernici,
tines
the Sabines, the ^^qui, and the Voifcians, were
fond of v.ar: thefe nations lay round
palTionately
Rom.e; the refiftance they
made
was
to that city
incredible, and they lurpaifed them in ftubbornnefs
and inliexibility.
The Latin cities fprung from Alban colonies,
which were founded {a) by Laiinus Sylvius
fides their
common
there were feveral rites and ceremonies
both
;
and Servius TuUus bad
to build a temple in
Rome,
of union of the
(^)
common
to
engaged them
to ferve as the center
nations.
tv*'0
be-
;
extraction w'vM the Pvomans,
Lofmg
a battle
near
the lake Regilius, they were fubjetled to an alliance,
(i?)
As appears from the
mance, afciibcd
treatife entitled
to Aurellus Vl<ftor.
^5
(,?)
Origo .Gentis
Ro-
D. Halicarnatf.

34. "The
34
Rise and Fall of the
and forced to
alTociate in
the {a) wars which the
Romans waged.
was manifeaiy feen,
dianng the fnort time
of the decemvu-s lafted, how much
the
aggrandizing of Rome depended on its
It
that the
tyranny
liberty.
The government
which
feeraed to have oi the
(b) foul
animated even to the minutell
part of it.
There remained
two
at that time but
forts
of
city, thofe who fubmitted to Haver y,
and thofe who for their own private interefl: endea-
people in the
voured to enflave the
refl.
The fenators withdiew
from a foreign city ; and the neiohbouring nations did not meet with the leaft refinance- from any quarter.
from Rome
The
as
found means to give the folof Veii was undertaken, which laHed ten years. But now a new art,
and a new fyfrem of war, were feen to arife
fenate having
diers a regular Aipend, the
flege
among
the
Romans;
confpicuous
;
their fucccffes
they
made
were more
a better
fignal
and
advantage of their
vi<5lories ; their
conquers were greater, they fent
out more colonies; in fine, the
taking of Veii
a kind of revolution.
proved
But
all this
did not lelTen their toils
:
if,
on one
they attacked with greater vigour the Tufcans,
the i^quf, and the Volfcians ; for this
very reafon
they were abandoned by the Latins and the Hernici
fide,
their allies,
who were armed
after the
fame man-
ner, and obferved the fame difcipline with them-
(<j)
See in
D. HalicarnafT
lib. vi.
one of the
treaties
con-
cluded with this people.
{h)
Thcfe Decemviri, »pon pretence of giving written Jaws
upon the government. Sec D. Halicarnafl^
to the people, feized
lib. xi.

35. Roman Empire.
felves
this
;
35
engaged the Tufcans to form new
al-
liances; and prompted the Samnites, the mo(l:m<irtial people of all Icaly, to involve them in a furious
war.
After the foldiers received pay, the fenate no
longer diftributed to them the lands of the con-
quered people, upon
now
whom
impofed; they were
other conditions were
oblip^ed, for inftance,
to
pay the army a certain quota for a time, and to
fend fuppiies of cloths and corn.
The
taking of
Rome by
the Gauls did
no way
ftrength; almoft the whole army, which
was difperfed rather than overcome, withdrevv^ to
leHen
its
Veil; the people (htkered themfelves in the adjacent cities; and the burnintr of Rome was no more
than the fetting
fire to
a few cottages of fhepherds,
CHAPTER
Of the
II.
Science of war as praciijed by the
the
AS
Romans devoted
Romaks,
themfelves entirely to
war, and confidered it as the only fcience,
they therefore bent all their thcnghts, and the genius with which they were informed, to the im-
provement of it doubtlefs a god, fays {(C) Vegetiiis,
infpircd them with the idea of the legion.
:
They judged that it would be nece'fary to arm
who compofed the legion wiih weapons,
the foldiers
whether offeniive or defeniive. of a flronger and
heavier kind than thofe of any other nation.
But
as
fome things
mud
(/»)
be done in war, which
(<})
L. H. cap.
(^)
S€C in Polybius, and in Jofephus,
I.
Di
hikjudalco^ lib.U.

36. The Rise and Tai^l cf the
heavy body is not able to execute, the Romans
36
a
would have the legion include vithin itfeif a band
of light forces, which might iiTue from it in order
to provoke the enemy to battle, or draw back into it in cafe of neceffity
they alfo would have this
;
legion fVrengthened with cavalry, with archers, and
dingers, to purfue thofe who (led, and complete the
vidtory; that
it
fhould be defended by military en-
gines of every kind, which
ever}'-
evening
this
body
it
drew
that
after it;
fliould entrench itfeif,
and
be, as Vegetir-s {a) obfervcs, a kind of firong hold.
But that the Roman foldiers might be able to car-
ry heavier arms than other men, it was neceifary
they fhould become more than men ; and this they
became by perpetual labour which encreafed their
vigour, and by excrcifes that gave them an activity,
v'hich is no more than a juft diXlribution of the
ilrengih
It is
we are invigorated with.
obferved in this age, that the {b)
Immo-
derate labour, which foldiers are obliged to undergo, deflroys our armies ; and yet it was by incredible labour that the
The
reafon
I
Romans
take to be this;
preferved tliemfelves.
their toils
were con-
tinual and uninterrupted, v/hereas our foldiers are
ever fhifting from the extremes of labour to the
a defcription
but
of the arms of the
little difference,
and aJfvaded horft.
"
carried
They
"
Roman
fays the latter,
(fays Cicero)
foldiers.
between
provifion
a
There
Roman
for fifteen
is
foldier
days,
and whatever they Ihould have oc" cafion for in
As to their arms, they
throwing up trenches.
" were no more incumbered with them than with their hands."
neceffaries
{a)
{})
Lib.
of
ii.
all forts,
rap. a^.
Particularly the throwing up
of the ground.

37. Roman Empire.
extremes of
idlenefs, than
37
which nothhig can pof-
be more deftructive.
(ibly
of what authors (a) rethe training up of the Roman folconcerning
They were inured to the military pace, that
diery.
I
niuft here take notice
late
is,
to walk twenty miles, and fometimes four and
twenty, in five hours. During thefe marches, they
carried burdens of threefcore pound weight ; they
habituated themfelvesto running and leaping, armed
cap-a-pee; in their (^) exercifes they
made
ufe of
fwords, javelins and arrows, double the weight of
common weapons ; and thefe exercifes were carried
on without
intermifFion.
The camp was
not the only military fchool;
there being, in Rome, a place in which the citizens
ufed to perform exercifes (it was the Campus Mar:
after their fatigues (r) they plunged into the
Tyber, to accuflom themfelves to fwimming, and
cleanfe away the dufl- and fweat.
tins)
Whenever
the
Romans thought
themfelves ex-y
any danger, or were delirous of repa,iring
fome lofs, it was a conftant prafVice among them
pofed to
to invigorate and give new.
cipline.
Are they engaged
life
in a
to their military difthe Latins^
war with
(a) See in Vegetins, lib. i, and in Livy, lib. xxvi. the
exercifes which Scipio Africanns made the foldiers perform afMarius ufed to go everyter the taking of Carthago Nova.
day to the Campus Martius, even in his extreme old age. It
vas cuftoroary for Pompey, when 58 years of age, to arm
himfelf cap-a pee, and engage in fingle combat with the Roman
He ufed to exercife himfelf in riding, when he would
youths.
run with the fwifteft career, and hurl the javelin. Plutarch in
the lives of Marius and Pompty.
(^)
Vegctius, Lib.
i,
(f)
Idem
ibid.

38. Fall
The Rise and
38
a people no
of the
martial than themfeives?
Manlius
methods oF ilrengthening the
upon
command in the field, and puts to death his own
lefs
the beft
relie<Sls
fon, for conquering without his orders.
defeated before
Numantia
?
Are they
Scipio Aemillanus im-
mediately removes the feveral blandilliments, w^hicb
had enervated them. Have the R.oman legions pad
under the yoke at Numidia ? Metellus wipes away their ignominy, the indant he has obliged them
to refume their ancient inflitutions.
Marius, that
he may be enabled to vanquiih the Cimbri and the
Teutones, begins by diverting the courfe of Qa) rivers; and Sylla employs, in fuch hard labour, his
foldicrs,
who were
war which was
terrified at the
carrying on
that they fue for
againfl Mithridates,
to put an end to their hardfliips.
Publius Nafica made the Romans build a fleet
battle,
of
lliips,
at a time
fuch a force
:
when they had no
occafion for
thefe people dreaded idlenefs
more
than an enemy.
Aulus Gellius
the cuflom
blood
who
(b) gives
among
the
no very good reafons
Romans of
had committed a fault
;
for
letting foldiers
the true reafon
that flrength being the chief qualification of a
foldier, this was the means of adding not to his
is,
weaknefs, but to his difgrace.
In the battles fought in our age, every fingle foldier has very little fecurity and confidence except in
indi; but among the Romans, every
more robufl and of greater experience in
vidual,
war, as well as more inured to tl;ie fatigues of it,
than his enemy, relied upon bimfelf only. He was
the multitude
(fl)
Ftontln. Stratagem,
lib.
i,
cap. i«.
Q)
Lib. x, cap. 8,

39. R
M AN Empire.
o
39
naturally endued with courage, or in other words,
with that virtue which a feniibility of our own
flrength infpircs.
Thefe men thus enured
were generally healthy
by hiftorians, that the
Roman armies, which waged war in fo great a variety of climates, fell often a prey to difeafes;
and vigorous
we do not
:
find
we
whereas in the prefent age
without once engaging,
periili,
daily fee armies,
and melt away,
if I
ufe the exprelTion, in a fingle campaign.
Defertions are very frequent among us for this^
may
reafon, becaufe the foidiers are the dregs of every
nation, and not one of them poffelTes, or thinks
himfelf pofTelfed of, a certain advantage v/hich gives
him a fuperiority over his comrades. But among
the
Romans
they were
lefs
frequent
;
it
being
from among a
fo haughty and imperious, and
people naturally
fo fure of commanding over others, fliould defcarce poiTible that foidiers, raifed
mean
themfelves to fuch a degree, as to ceafe to
be Romans.
As
their armies
fubfiiled: the
were not
great, they
commander had
of knowing the
feveral individuals
eafily perceive the various
were
eafily
a better
faults
;
opportunity
and could more
and mifdemean-
ours committed by the foldiery.
The
violence of their exercifes, and the wonder-
them to make long and
marches. Their fudden prefence damped the
fpeedy
ful roads they built, enabled
fpirits
of
they fhewed themfelves,
fome unfortunate event, at a time
enemies were in that^ftate of negligence
their oppofers
:
efpecially after
when
which
their
is
generally confequent on vi<flory.

40. T^he
40
Rise and Fall of the
As no troops in the world were, in any age, fo
well difciplined, it was hardly pofFible that in a bat-
how
unfortunate (oever, but Tome Romans mull
one pare or other of it ; or on the other [idQ,
but that the enemy muft be defeated in fome part
of the field and, indeed, we iind every where in
tle,
rally in
:
whenever the Romans happened to be
overpowered at the beginning, either by numbers,
or the fiercenefs of the onfet, they at laft wrefted
hiftory, that
the lawrel out of the enemies hand.
Their chief care was to examine, in what parenemies had an advantage over them,
and when this was found, they immediately retfti-
ticular their
£ed it. The cutting Avords (a) of the Gauls, and
the elephants of Pyrrhus intimidated them but once.
flrengthened their cavalry, (b) firft, by taking
the bridles from the horfes ; that their impetuolity
They
might be boundlefs, and afterwards by intermixing
them with Velites (r): when they underdood the
excellence of the Spanilh (d) fword, they quitted
{a)
The Romans
Gauls flruck
at
them
ufed to prefent their javelins,
.>vith
their
fvvords,
when
the
and by that means
blunted them.
(/')
of
At the time that they warred againfl the leHer nations
was fuperior to that of their er.emies, and
Italy, their horfe
for this reafbn, the cavalry were compofed of none but the ableft
bodied men, and the mod confiderable among the citizens, each
whom had a horfe maintained at the public expence. When
they alighted, no infantry was more formidable, and they ve-
of
ry often turned the fcale of victory.
(c) Thefe were young men lightly armed, and the moft
nimble of all the legion. At the leaft fignal that was given,
they would either leap behind a horfeman, or fight on foot,
Valerius Maximus,
{d)
lib.
ii.
Livy,
Fragmcn. of folybiui
lib
cited
xxvl.
by Snidas
in
the
word

41. Roman Empire.
their
own
for
it.
They
41
baffled all the art
of the
moli experienced pilots, by the invention of an en
gine which is defcribed by Polybius. In fine, as Jc-
war was a fubjedl: of meditation
Romans, and peace an exercife.
any nation boafted, either from nature or its
fephus obferves {a),
to the
If
any peculiar advantage, the Romans
immediately made ufe of it they employed their
vitmoft endeavours to procure horfes from Numiinfiitution,
:
bowmen from
dia,
Crete, fiingers from the Baleares,
and mips from the Rhodians.
To
conclude, no nation in the world ever prewar with fo much wifdom, and carried it
pared for
on with
fo
much
intrepidity.
CHAPTER
III.
The Methods by which the Romans raifid themfelves to Empire,
AS
lam€
the people of Europe, in this age, have very
near the fame arms, the fame difcipline, the
arts,
and the fame manner of making v/ar
the prodigious fortune, to which the
ed, feems incredible to us. Befides,
Romans
power
time divided fo difproportionabiy, that
;
attain-
is at this
not pofpetty ftate to raife itfclf, merely by its
Arength from the low condition in which proit is
fible for a
own
vidence has placed it.
This merits fome reflefl-ions, otherwife
we might
behold feveral events without being able to account
for
them
{a)
De
;
and for want of having a perfe6l idea of
Bcllo Judaico,
lib.
H.

42. Fall
The Rise and
42
of the
the different fituation of things, we fhould bellcvf,
in perufing antient hiftory, that we view a fett of
men
different
from
ourfelves.
Experience has fliewn perpetually, that an Eu-
ropean prince, who has a million of fubjefts, cannot, without deflroying himfelf, keep up and maintain above ten thoufand foldiers confequently, great
;
nations only are polTefTed of armies.
But the cafe was different antiently with regard
to commonwealths: for this proportion between the
and the reil of the people, which is now as
one to an hundred, might, in thofe tim.es, be pret»
ty near as one is to eight.
The founders of antient commonwealths had
foldiers
msde an
equal diflribution of the lands; this cirraifed a nation to pow^r; that is
cumflance slone
to fay,
made
a well regulated fociety:
it
armies ;
this alfo
being equally the intoo was very great) cf every indi(and
vidual, to exert himfelf in defence of his country.
gave ftrength to
its
it
this
tcreft
When
laws were not executed in their
affairs
gour,
which we
full ri-
returned back to the fame point in
now
fee
them
:
the avarice of
fome par-
and the lavifh profufenefs of others,
occafioned the lands to become the property of a
ticular perfons,,
few; immediately arts were introduced tofupply the
by which
reciprocal wants of the rich and poor
means there were but very few foldiers or citizens
;
feen
;
for the revenues of the lands, that had before
been employed to fupport the latter, were now beftowed wholly on flaves and artificers, who adminidered to the luxury of the new proprietors; for
otherwife the government, which, how licentious focver
it
be,
mud
exift,
would have been dcftroyed :
'

43. Roman Empire.
43
before the corruption of the ftate, the original revenues of it were divided among the foldiers, that
was corrupted, they went
them out to flaves and
from whom they received by way of triartificers,
bute a part for the maintenance of the foldiers; and
k was impoilible that people of this caft Ihould be
the labourers: after
is,
who
to the rich,
firft
it
let
they being cowardly and abject; already corrupted by the luxury of cities, and often
by the very art they profelTed; not to mention, that
good
foldiers,
as they could
not properly
own, and reaped
call
any country
of
the fruits
every clime, they had very
little
their
induflry in
either to lofe or
their
keep.
In the furvey {a) of the people of Rome feme
time after the expulllon of the kings, and in that
taken by Demetrius Phalereus (^) at Athens, the
number of
Rome
inhabitants
was found nearly equal
;
had four hundred forty thoufand, Athens
four hundred thirty one thoufand. But the furvey
Rome was made at the time when its eftablifh-
at
ment was come to maturity, and that of Athens
when it was quite corrupt. We find that the number of citizens, grown up to manhood, made at
Rome a fourth part of its inhabitants, and at Athens a
of
little lefs
than the twentieth: the ftrength
Rome therefore,
to that of Athens,
was
at thefe
different tim.cs almoft as four to twenty, that
was
five times
(a)
This
nafleus, lib
he
rpeak«;
is
larger.
the farvey mentioned
ix. art
of
at the
15. and which
end of
by Dionyfius of Halicarto me to be the fame
fcerrif.
bii fixth
book, made Hx years after
the expuKion of the kings.
(b)
is, it
Cteficles ia Athenaeus,
lib. vi.

44. Fall
7^^ Rise and
44
of the
(a) Agis and Cleomenes obferving,
of thirty thoufand
citizens, (for fo
that infiead"
many were
at
Sparta in Lycurgus's time) there were but feven
hundred, fcarce a hundred of whom were polfelTed
of lands and that all the reft were no more than
;
a cowardly populace; they
laws enafled on
undertook to revive the
this occafion
riod Lacedaemonia recovered
;
its
and from that peformer pcrvi^er,and
again became formidable to all the Greeks.
It was the equal diftribution of lands that at
enabled
and
Rome
this the
to foar above
Romans were
its
firfl
humble condition
;
flrongly fenfible of in
their corrupted flate.
This commonwealth w^as confined to narrow
bound?, when the Latins having refufed to fuccour
them v/ith the troops which had been (b) Hipulated,
ten legions were prefently raifed in the city only :
fcarce at this time, fays Livy, Rome, whom the
whole univerfe is not able to contain, could levy
fuch a force, were an
tinder
its
enemy
to appear fuddenly
walls; a fure indication that
we
have not
power, and have only increafed the luxury
and wealth which incommode us.
jifen in
Tell me,
would Tiberius Gracchus
the nobles, which
of a
citizen, or
fiil, a foldier,
is
fay (c) to
the mofl: valuable chara£Ver,that
of a perpetual
or a
man
flave
?
whoism.oft ufe-
entirely unfit for
war?
will-
you, merely for the fake of enjoying a few more
acres of land than the red of the citizens, quite lay
afide the hopes
{a)
of conquering the
See PliUarch's
life
reft
of the v/orld^
of Ck^omenes.
Livy I Decad, L. vii. This was fome time after the
taking of Rome, under the confuUhip of L. Furius Camiilus,
and App. Claudius Crafius.
(c) Appian.
{b)

45. Roman
E m
p
r Er
i
45
or be expofed to fee yourfelves difpoiTelTed by the
<nemy, of thofe very lands which you refufe us ?
CHAPTER
Of
I.
the Gauls.
2.
IV.
3. Parallel be-
Of ?ynhs.
tween Carthage and Rome.
4.
The JVar of
Hannibal.
Romans were engaged
THE
in feveral
wars
of glory, a conrefolution of con-
againft the Gauls:
a third:
tempt of death, and an inflexible
quering, were equal in both nations, but the wea-
pons they ufed were different; the bucklers of the
were fmall, and their fwords unfit for execu-
latter
tion
the
;
and indeed, the Gauls were cut to pieces by
after the fame manner as the
Romans, much
Mexicans, in thefe latter ages, by the Spaniards ;
and a furprizing circumfiance is, that though thefe
people were combating perpetually with the Romans, they yet fuffered themfelves to be deflroyed
one
without
their ever being fen'lble
or obviating, the caufe of their
of, enquiring after,
after another,
calamities.
Pyrrhus invaded the P.omans at a time when
they were flrong enough to oppcfe the pov.-er of his
arms, and to be taught by the viflories he obtained
over them from him they learnt to entrench them:
choice and proper difoofition of
he accuftomed them to elephants, and
felves, as alfo the
a
camp
:
prepared them for mighder wars.
The grandeur of Pyrrhus was
to his perfonal qualities.
{a)
In his
life
confined merely
Plutarch {a) informs us,
of Pyrrhus,

46. The Rise and
46
Fall
of the
was obliged to begin the war of Macedow
from his inability to maintain any longer the
nia,
fix thoufand foot, and five hundred horfe in his
This prince, fovereign of a fmall country
fervice.
that he
which has never made the leaft figure fince his
time, was a military rambler, who was continually forming new enterprizes, becaufe he could not
but by
Tarentum,
fubfifl:
enterprizing.
his ally,
had much degenerated from
the inPatution of the Lacedaemonians, her ance-
He might have done great things with
(/?).
the aliiilance of the Samnites; but they were alp-iofl: qvu.e deiUoyed by the Romans.
flors
As
grew wealthy fooner thsn
were fooner corrupted: thus
the Carthaginians
the Ronrians, fo they
whiiil at Rome, public employments were made the
reward of virtue only, and no other emolument
accrued from them than honour, and a preference
in toils; at Carthage, the fevcral advantages which
the public can bellow on particular perfons were
venal, and every fervice done by fuch perfons was
there paid by the public.
A monarchy is not dragged nearer to the brink
of ruin by the tyranny of a prince, than a commonwealth by a lukewarmnefs and indilference for the
general good. The advantage of a free ftate is, that
the revenues are employed in
it
to thcbeft purpofes
but where does not the reverfe of
advantap^e of a free flate
is,
that
it
;
happen the
admits of no fathis
!
when the contrary is feen, and inftead
; but
of the friends and relations of a prince, great forvourites
tunes are amalTed for the friends and relations of all
perfons
who
have any
(J>)
fliare in tlie
JuQin,
lib.
xx.
government; in
,

47. Roman Empire.
47
an univerfal ruin muft enfue; the laws are
then eluded more dangeroufly, than they are inthis cafe
fringed by a fovereign prince, who, being always
the greateft citizen in the ftate, is moft concerned
to labour at
its prefervation.
the conftant practice of ancient cuftoms and
manners, and a peculiar ufe that was made of poin Rome were
verty, the fortunes of all the people
By
very near upon a level; but in Carthage, fome
boafled the wealth of kings.
particular perfons
The two prevailing fad^ions in Carthage were fo
divided, that the one was always for peace, and the
other always for war
;
by v/hich means
it
was im-
that city, either to enjoy the one, or
poffible for
engage in the other to advantage.
(a) war immediately united the feveral
but in Carthage it divided them ftill more.
In a monarchy, feuds and divifions are eafily
In
Rome,
interefts,
quieted, becaufe the prince is invejfted with a coercive power to curb both parties; but they are more
lafting in a
commonwealth, becaufe the evil genevery power which only could have
rally feizes the
wrought
In
a cure.
Rome, which was governed by laws, the peomanagement of af-
ple entrufled the fenate with the
fairs;
but in Carthage, which was governed by fraud
(a) Hannibal's prefence put an end to
vifions
which
till
then prevailed
among
all
the
the feuds and di-
Romans
j
hut the
prefence of Scipio irritated thofe which already fubfifted among
the Carthaginians, and ftiakled, as it were, the ftrength of the
city; for the
common
people
now grew
diffident
of the gene-
the fenate, and the great men; and this made the people more furious. Appian has given us the hiftory of this war,
rals,
carried on by the fixd Scipio*

48. The Rise and
48
and
Fall
of the
would themfelves
difTolutenefs, the people
tran-
fact all things.
Carth:.ge, in yarring with all its riches agalnfl:
a difadvantage in this
poverty of Rome, had
very circumflance; for gold and filver may be
the
exhaufted, but virtue, perfeverance, ftrength and
poverty are inexhauftible.
The Romans v/ere ambitious through pride, and
the Carthaginians through avarice ; the former
would command, the latter amafs; and thefe whofe
minds were v/holly turned to traffic, perpetually
calling up their income and expcnces, never engaged in any war from inclination.
The
of
of a people, the
the confumption of the public treatrade,
fure,the infurreftion of neighbouring nations, might
lofs
battles, the decreafe
decay of
force the Carthaginians to fubmit to the (everefl:
terms of peace: but Rome was not fwayed by the
confidcration of blefTmgs or calamities, being de-
termined by no other motive but
Romans were perfuaded
without commanding over
as the
exift
its glory; and
they could not
others,
neither
hopes, nor fears of any kind, could prevail with
them to conclude a peace, the conditions of which
were not prefcribed by themfelves.
Nothing is fo powerful as a commonwealth in
which the laws are exaflly obferved, and this not
from fear nor from reafon, but from a pafTionate
impulfe, as in
wifdom of
a
Rome and Lacedaemon
good
legiflature
is
;
for then the
united to
all
the
flrength a faction could poffibly boaft.
The
Carthaginians
made
ufe of foreign forces,
and the Romans employed none but their own. As
the latter had never confidered the vanquiflied but

49. Roman Empire.
45
merely as fomany inftruments for future triumphs;
they made foldiers of the feveral people they conquered; and the greater oppofition thofeniade^ the
more worthy they judged them of being
Thus we
rated into their reoublic.
who were
nites,
not fubdued
become
incorpo-j
find the Sam-
after four
till
auxiliaries to the
and
Ro^
twenty ti-iumphs (<^),
mans; and fome time before. the fecond Panic war,
they raifed from among that nation and their allies {b)y that is, from a country of little more extent than the territories of the pope and Naples,
feven hundred thoufand foot, and feventy thoufand
horfe^ to oppofe the Gauls.
In the height of the fecond Punic war,
Rome
had always a ftanding army of twenty two or
twenty four legions; and yet it appears by jLivy,
that at this time the cenfus, or general furvey, a-
mounted
The
to but about
137000
Carthaginians employed
troops in invading others,
fending themfclves;
jufl:
now
feen,
citizens.
a greater
number of
and the Romans
in de-.
we have
of men to.
the latter arm.ed, as
a prodigious multitude
oppofe the Gauls and Hannibal
who
invaded thm
;
and they fent out no more than two legions againft
the moft powerful kings; by which m.eans their
forces
were inexhauflible.
Carthage was not fo ftrong from
its
fituation, as
Rome from
the fpot on which it ftood ; the latter
had thirty colonies (f) round it, all which were as
{a)
Flor.
1.
i.
See Polybius. According to the epitome of Florus
they
raifed three hundred thoufand men out of the city and amono'
{b)
the Latins.
(c)
c
See Livy,
lib.
xxvii.

50. Fall
^he Rise and
50
of the
many bulwarks. The Romans were
fo
doned by one of
nae ; the reafon
of
Italy
Is,
never aban-
the battle
till
their fovereignty.
the cities
of Africa were poorly
they prefently furrendered to the
tified,
that appeared
under
Regulus, Scipio,
of Can-
the Samnites and other nations
were ufed to
As moft of
on
their allies
for-
enemy
firft
their walls; fo that Agathocles,
in a
word,
who made
all
a defcent
thofe places, immediately fpread defpair through
Carthage.
all
We can
afcrlbe to nothing
but to an
evil
admi-
niflration, the feveral calamities which the Cartha-
ginians fuiTered during the whole war that Scipio
carried on again ft them; their city (<?), and even
their armies were famifhed, at the fame time that
Romans enjoyed
a profufion of all things.
the Carthaginians, the armies which had
been defeated grew more infolent upon it, info^
the
Among
much
that they
fometimes ufcd to crucify their
generals, puniQiing
own
cowardice.
them
Among
in this
the
manner
after punifhing fuch foldiers as had fled
a {a) decimation,
colours, by
ins: forces a^ainft the enemy.
The governmxent of the
opprefFive
((t):
from
their
marched the furviv-
Carthaginians
was vaftly
they had trampled fo much upon the
Spaniards, that,
(a)
for their
the conful,
Romans,
See Appian,
when
lib.
the
Romans
arrived
among
Lybicus.
on thofe who had
{I) This puniihment, which was inf!i£led
run from their colours, on mutineers, etc. was thus the nanr.es
were
of all the criminals,
together in a veflel or fhield,
:
being put
afterwards drawn our, every tenth
reprieve.
yet
all
By
were
(r) See
what
this
means,
terrified into
is
related
though
man being
all
obedience.
to die without
were not put to death,
Note
by the tranjlotor,
by Polybius concerning
their exadions.

51. Roman Empire,
51
tiiem, they were confidered as their deliverers ; and
if we refle£l upon the immenfe fums it cofl: the Car-
thaginians to maintain in that country, a war which
proved fatal to them, it will appear that injuftice is ve-
ry improvident, and
is
not miftrefs of all (lie proraifes.
very much lefIn the firfl ages, fu-
The founding of Alexandria had
fened the trade of Carthage.
in
perlVition ufed to baniih,
reigners from Egypt; and
conquered
this
fome meafure,
all
after the Perflans
kingdom, they had bent
their
fo-
had
whole
thoughts to the weakening of their new fubje(fl:s;
but under the Grecian monarchs, Egypt poflTefTed
almoft the whole commerce of the univerfe (^),
and
of Carthage began to decay.
that
Such powers,
as are eftablifned
by commerce,
for a long feries of years in their hummay
ble condition, but their grandeur is of fhort durafubllfl:
tion
;
rife by little and little, and in an impermanner, for they do not perform any parexploit which may make a noife, and figna-
they
ceptible
ticular
power: but when they have once railed
themfelves to fo exalted a pitch, that it is impoifible but all rnufl: fee them, every one endeavours to
lize their
deprive this nation of an advantage which it had
fnatched, as it were, from the reH: of the world.
The
Carthaginian cavalry v.as preferable to that
of the Romans, for thefe two reafons; firft, becaufe
the horfes of Numldla and Spain were better than
;
fecondly, becsufe the Roman cavalry v/as but indifferently provided with arms; for
the Romans, as (b) Polybius informs us, did not in-
thofe of Italy
{a)
{h)
See more of
Sock vi.
"
this hereafter in chap. vi»
C
-2

52. The Rise and
52
Fall
of f be
troduce any change on this occailon,
as they fought in Greece.
In the
fuch time
Punic war, Regulus was defeated
firfl
as the Carthaginians
cavalry to engage in
owed
till
as foon
made
;
choice of plains for their
and in the fecond,(<2) Hannibal
Numidians.
by the conqueft of Spain, and the alliance
his moll: glorious victories to the
Scipio,
he made with Mafmilla, deprived the Carthaginians
of this fuperiority: the Numidian cavalry won the
battle
of Zama, and put an end to the war.
The
Carthaginians had greater experience at fea,
in the working of rt:iips than
and were better IMUed
the
Romans but
:
advantage feems to have been
it would be in the
prefent.
this
lefs in thofe ages than
As
pafs,
the ancients had not the ufe
they were confined
indeed they had nothing but
fmall and
flat
bottomed
;
of the fea-com-
almofl: to coafting;
gallies,
mofi: roads
and
which were
were to them
knowlege of their pilots
many harbours;
was very narrow and contracted, and their tackle
Their art itfelf was fo imperextremely fimple.
the
as fo
fect,
that as
much
is
oars, as in thofe ages
Their larger
that being
ley-flaves,
veifels
moved with
it
was
now done
with an hundred
wath a thoufand.
had a difadvantage in this,
by the crew of gal-
difficulty
impoffible for
them to make the
Mark Antony experienced
neceifary evolutions.
at A£tium ; for his
this, in the moft fatal manner,
fnips
on
were not
all fides
(rt)
The
able to
by the
move
about,
lighter veficls
when
attacked
of Augufi:us.
circumftance which gave the
Romans
an oppor-
a little breath in the fecond Punic war, was
tunily of taking
whole bodies of Numidian cavahy went over into SiciJy
this,
and
Italy,
and there joined them.
^

53. Roman Empire.
53
As
the ancients ufed nothing but galleons, the
lighter vefiels eafily broke the oars of the greater
ones, which were then but as fo
immoveable machines,
have
lofl;
like
many
modern
fliips
unwieldy,
when
they
their mafts.
Since the invention of the fea-compafs, diiferent
methods have been employed ; oars {a) have been
laid aiide;
the miain ocean has been vifited, great
fliips have been built; the machine is become more
complicated, and the pra£ices have been multiplied.
The difcovery of gun -powder has occafioned a
circumflance one would no ways have fufpefted,
which
that the (Irength of fleets depends m^ore
for in order to refid the fury
;
is,
than ever upon art
of the cannon, and prevent the being expofed to a
fuperior fire, it was neceffary to build great fliips
;
but the power of the art muft be proportioned to
the bulk of the machine.
The
fmall vefTels
of the antients ufed often to
grapple fijddenly with one another, on which occa(ion the foldiers
engaged on both fides t a whole
land-army was (hipped on board a fxeet. In the fcawon by Regulus and his coUegue, an hundred
and thirty thoufand Romans fought againft an hunfight
dred and
fcldiers
ifis
%e
fifty
thoufand Carthaginian-s
were looked upon
:
at that time
as confiderable,
and
art-
but in thefe ages, the foldiers
confidered as little or nothing, and artifls the
the very reverfe
;
very ^contrary.
A
.
(rt)
flrong proof of the difference
is
the victory
Hence we may judge of the imperfe^licn of the anticnt
we have laid afide a practice in hicb we had fo
.navies, fince
over them.
^iTiUch fuperiority

54. Fall
54
^he Rise and
won by
DuilHus the conful
:
the
of the
Romans were
to-
ignorant of navigation, when a Carthaginian
galley, happening to be flranded on their coafi:,
tally
ferved them as a model for the building of others:
in three months time their Tailors were trained,
their fleet
put to
was completely fitted out*, the Romans
came up with the Carthaginians, and
fea,
defeated them.
In this age, the whole life of a prince is fearce
fuiHcient for the raifing and equipping a navy capable to
make head
againfl a
power already
pofTeffed
of the empire of the fea this perhaps may be the
only thing which money cannot of itfelf eife£l:;
:
and though
a great {a^
monarch
in
our
ceeded im.roediately in an attempt of
da3^s fucthis
kind,
experience has proved to others (b)y that fuch an
example is to be admired rather than imitated »
The
fecond Punic war
the world, that
it is
known
made
fo
much
to every one.
noife in
"When we
furvey attentively the croud of obflacles which flarted up before Hannibal, and reflefl:, that this extra-
ordinary man furmounted them
all,
we view the
mofi:
auguft fpe^lacle that antiquity can pofTibly exhibit.
was a miracle in conftancy and refolution
Rome
after the battles
fymenus
;
of Ticinus, of Trebia, and ThraCannae, which was flill
after the defeat at
them, though they faw themfelves abandoned by mofl: of the nations in Italy, yet they
would not fue for peace; and for this reafon, the
more
fatal to
ienate never once receded
from
their antient
max-
ims: theycondu£led themfelves towards Hannibal, in
tlie fame manner as they had before behaved with re-
{a)
Lewis XIV.
Q)
Spain and Mufcovy,

55. Roman Empire.
to
gard to Pyrrhus,
whom
they refufed
all
55
terms of
accommodation, till fuch time as he fhould leave
HalicarnalTeus (^) informs ns,
Italy ; and Dionyfius
with the Rqthat, when Coriolanus was treating
never infringe
nians, the fenate declared they would
their people could not
their ancient cuftoms ; that
conclude a peace fo long as the enemy fhould continue in their territories ; but that in cafe the Volfit to retire, they then fhould aterms that were juft and reafonable.
any
Rome was faved by the ftrength and vigour of its
fcians
would think
gree to
inftitution
:
after the battle
men were not allowed to
of Cannae, their very wo-
il:ied
tears: the fenate refuf-
ed to ranfom the prifoners, and fent the miferable
remainsof thearmy to carry on the war in Sicily, unrecompenfed, and deprived of every military honour,
till fuch time as Hannibal was driven out of Italy.
On
had
the other fide, Terentius
Varro the conful
fled ignominioufly as far as VenuCia.
this man,
was very mean, had been raifed
whofe
to the confuliliip merely to mortify the nobles.
However the fenate would not enjoy the unhappy
triumph : they faw how neceiTary it was for them
to gain the confidence of the people on this occa(lon; they therefore went out to meet Varro, and
:
extra(ftion
returned him thanks for not defpairing of the fafety
of the commonwealth.
It is
commonly not
the real lofs fuftained in a
of the flaughter of fome thoufand men)
which proves fatal to a flate, but the imaginary lofs,
the general damp which deprives it even of that
battle, (that
which fortune had left
ftrength and vigour
{a)
Antiq.
.
Rom.
C4
1.
viii.
it.

56. The Rise and
56
Some
things are afTerted
have been afTerted once
:
Fall
by
it
all
is
oftbe
,
men, becaufe they
thouoht Hannibal
committed an egregious error in not laying fiege to
Rome after the battle of Cannae: it muft be con^t9iQd,
firft
that the inhabitants
of the former were
feized with a panic; but then the furprize
at
and
dread, of a martial people, which always turns to
bravery, is not like that of a defpicable populace,
who
are fenfihle to nothing but their weaknefs: a
proof Hannibal would not have fucceeded, is, that
the Romans were full powerful enough to fend
iuccoars where any v/ere wanted.
It is alfo faid, that Hannibal was greatly overfeen,
in
marching
his
to Capua,
army
where
his foldiers
enervated themfelves; but people who make thefe
aiTertions Ihould confider, that they do not go back
to the true caufe of
would not every place have
body of men, who had enrich-
it
to a
a
:
Capua
proved
ed themfelves with the
fpoils
of fo
many
vl(5lories
?
Alexander, whofe army confided of his own fubon the like occafion, of an expedije(fl:s, made ufe,
ent which Hannibal, whofe army was compofed
wholly of mercenaries, could not employ; and this
to the baggage of his foldiers,
was, the fetting
fire
and burning:
their wealth
all
and
his
own.
The
very conquefls of Hannibal began to change
the fortune of the war he did not receive any fuc:
cours from Carthage, either by the jealoufy of one
party, or the too great confidence oi the other. So
his whole army together, he always
Romans; but when he was obliged to
long as he kept
defeated the
put garrifons into
cities,
to defend his
iiege (lrong-holds,or prevent
allies,
to bc-
their being bcfieged, he
then found himfelf too weak, and
lofl a
great part

57. R
M A
O
E M
N
P
R
I
E.
^y
Conqueils are eauly
arm}^ by piece-meal.
atchieve them Vv'ith our whole
made, bccaufe we
force ; they are r^cained with difficulty, becaufe we
of
his
defend them with oDly a part of our forces.
CHAPTER
T/:e State
of
V.
cy Greece, c/ Macedonia,
Egypt, after the deprej[fion
q/' Syria,
aud
of Carthage.
in witticifms,
Imagine Hannibal did not abound
in favour of Fabius and Marcelius aefpecially
gainfl
flowers on
am
lorry to fee Livy ftrew his
thefe enormous ColoiTufes of antiquity %
I
hirafelf.
fo well
who neglecfls emhow to put them
made
to fpeak ought to
wiih he had done like Homer,
I
beliilhing
in
them, and knew
motion.
-
Befides,
what Hannibal
is
the defeat
if, on hearing
of his brother, he faid publicly, that it was the prelude of the ruin of Carthage, could any thing have
have
common
fenfe:
but
a greater tendency to drive to defpair a people who
their confidence in him, and to difcouhad
placed
rage an army which expelled fiich high recompences after the
As
war
?
the Carthaginians loft every battle they fought,
cither in Spain, in Sicily, or in Sardinia; Hannibal,
whofe enemies were fortifying themfelves inceffant-
very inconfiderable reinforcements were
fent him, was reduced totheneceffity of engaging
ly, whilft
in a defenfive
war:
this fiiggefled to the
Romans
making Africa the feat of v/ar. Acof the world^.
cordingly Scipiowent into that part
and fo great v/as his fiiccefs, that the Carthagimthe defign of
C5

58. Fall
The Rise and
58
of the
ans were forced to recal from Italy Hnnnlbal,
who
for grief at his
furrendermg to the Romans
thofe very plains, in v/hich he had fo often tri-
wept
umphed over them.
Whatever is in the power of
and a great foldier to perform, all
a
great general
did
this Plannibal
to fave his country: having fruitlefsly endeavoured
to bring Scipio to pacific terms, he fought a battle,
in
which fortune feemed to delight in confounding
and good fenfe.
his ability, his experience,
Carthage received the conditions of peace, not
from an enemy, but from a fovereign the citizens
of it obliged themfelves to pay ten thoufand talents
in fifty years, to give hoflages, to deliver up their
jQjips and elephants, and not to engage in any war
without the confent of the Romans; and in order
*,
that this republic might always continue in a dejected flate, the vi<5lors heightened the power of MafinilTa, its
irreconcileable
enemy.
After the deprelTion of Carthage, the Romans
were fcarce engaged but in petty wars, and obtained
mighty viOories ; whereas before, they had obtain-
ed but petty
vidtories,
and been engaged in mighty
xvars.
There were in thofe times two worlds, as it were,
feparate from each other in one, the Carthaginians
and Romans fought and the other was ihaken by the
feuds and divifions which had fubfifted ever fince
the death of Alexander. In the latter, no regard
was had {a) to the tranfaOions of the wefiern world
;
;
:
for though Philip king of IMacedon had concluded
{a) It
Appioa,
15
furprlzing, as Jofepbus obferves in his treatife againft
tljat
neither Herodotus nor Thwcjdides
make
the ieafl

59. Roman Empire.
a treaty with Hannibal, yet very
little
^g
refulted
from
it; and this monarch, who gave the Carthaginians
but very incon/Iderablc fuccours, juft (Iiewed the
Romans that he bore them a fruitlefs ill-will.
When two mighty people are Teen to wage a
long and obflinate war, it is often ill policy ta
imagine that it is fafe for the refl: of the world to
continue as fo
many
idle
for which
fpectators;
two people triumphs over
engages immediately in new wars; and
foever of the
of
foidiers
but fo
the other,
a
nation
who
marches and invades nations
are
citizens.
many
This was very manifeft in thofe ages; for fcarce
had the Romans fubjecled the Carthaginians, but
they immediately invaded other nations, and ap»
all parts of the earth,
carrying
univerfal invafion.
peared in
There were
at that
time In the
eafl
on an
but four
powers capable of making head againfl: the Romans ;
Greece, the kingdoms of Macedonia, Syria, and
Egypt:
we muft
that time,
the
of the
take a view of the condition,
twofiril:
Romans began by
There were at
at'
of thofe powers; becaufe
fubje<fting
them.
that time three confiderable people
in Greece, the jEtolians, the Achainns, and the Boe-'
otians; thefe
free cities,
were
magiftrates in
tial,
fo
which had
bold, rafn
many
aiTociations
common. The
;
formed by
their general aiTemblies and-
^Etolians,
greedy of gain, very
were marof their
laviih
in fine,, a peopre who warred
promifes and oaths
on land in the fame manner as pirates do at fea.
;
The
Achaians were incommoded perpetudly by
ncn>ion of the Romans though they had been engaged ia
fuch mighty wars.

60. 6o
I'he
Rise and Fall of the
troublefome neighbours or defenders. The Boeotians, who were the moft heavy people of all Greece,
but
fame time the
at the
lived generally in
wifeil:,
guided entirely by a fenfation of happinefs
and mifery, they had noi: genius enough to be either
peace
;
What
rouzed or mifguided by orators.
traordinaiy,
their
republic fubililed
is
mofl: ex-
even in the
midft of anarchy {a).
Lacedaemon had preferred
I
mean
its
power, by which
which the inilitutions of
that warlike fpirit
Lycurgus infpired. The Theiralians were, in fome
meafure, enuaved by the Macedonians. The Illyrian
kings had already been very much deprelTed by the
Romans. The Acarnanians and Athamanes had been
cruelly infcfted by the ti-cops of
tolia fucceffively.
The
and unfupported by
feives
i^oniihed the world,
lavifhcd
Macedon and yE-
Athenians, weak in them(b) allies,
except by the
on kings; and
the orators
no longer
flatteries
a-
they
no more
a-
fcended the Rollra where Demofthenes had ha-
rangued, unlefs to propofe the bafeft and mofl
fcandalous decrees.
Befides,
on,
Greece was formidable from
flrength, the multitude of
its
TiUmber of its foldiers,
The Greeks delighted
art
of
it
;
its fituati-
its cities,
the great
polity, manners and laws.
war; they knew the whole
its
in
and, had they united, would have been
invincible.
(fl)
The
magirtrates, to pleafe the multltiide, did not
open
the courts of juftice: and the dying beq^ueatbed their eiFc^^s to
See a fragment of the
their friends, to be laid out in feaiis.
atxth
(b)
book of Polybius,
They were
in the
not engaged
nations of Greece. Polyb.
Extrad of
in
any
lib. viii»
Virtues and Vices.
alliance with the other

61. Roman Empire.
They
indeed had been
terrified
by the
firft
6i
Philip,
by Alexander, and by Antipater, but not fubdued ;
and the kings of Macedon, who could not prevail
with themfelves to lay afide their pretenfions and
their hopes,
made
the moft oblVmate attempts to
en Have them.
The
greatefl part
of Macedonia was furroundcd
with inaccelTible mountains; the inhabitants of it
were formed by nature for war, courageous, obedient,
induitrious and indefatigable
qualities
muft
neceffarily have
climate, fince the natives of
befl:
foldiers in the
and
thcfe.
are, to this day, the
Turkiih empire.
Greece maintained
the Lacedaemonians
it
;
been owing to the
itfelf
by a kind of balance;,
v/ere generally in alliance with
the iEtolians, and the Macedonians with the Achai-
ans ; but tiie arrival of the Romans c^uite dedroycd the aequilibrium.
As the kings of Macedonia were not able to main-
body of troops, the leafl lofs was of conto them ; befides, it was diificult for thele
fequence
monarchs to aggrandize themfelves; becaufe,as their
tijin
a large
ambitious views were not
unknown, other nations
kept a watchful eye over every ftep they took and
the fucceffes they obtained in the wars, undertaken
-,
for the fake of their allies,
was an
evil
which thefe
endeavoured immediately to remed}^
JBut the kings of Macedonia generally poiTelTed
like thofe
great talents; their monarchy was not
very
allies
which proceed for ever in the fame fteps that were
taken at the foundation of them. In{>ru£led perpetually by dangers and experience, involved in all
the difputes of Greece, it was neceiTary for them
;.
,

62. 62
The Rise and
Fall
of the
either to bribe the
principal niagiflrates of cities, to
raife a mid before the
eyes of nations, or to divide
or unite
their interefls
;
bliged to expofe, every
the greareft dangers.
who in
word, they were o-
in a
moment,
their perfons to
the beginning of his
reign had
won
the love and confidence of the Greeks,
by his
mo-
Philip,
deration, changed on a fudden
he became {a) a cruel tyrant, at a time when he
ought to have behaved
^vith juftice, both from
policy and ambition he faw,
;
;
berlefs forces
;
vantage of his
Romans
of numhe had concluded the war to the ad-
at a diftance, the
though
allies,
pofTelTed
and was reconciled to the
was natural he
fliould
^-
now endeavour
to
tolians;
it
unite
the Greeks with himfelf,in order to prevent'
all
the
Romans from
far
from
pations
;
fettling in their country; but fo
he exafperated them by petty ufurand trifled away his time in examiningthis,
little or no
confequence, at a time when
very exigence was endangered ; by the commifficn of three or four evil aftrons, he made him-
affairs
of
his
felf
odious and deteftable to
all
Greece.
The ^tolians were moil exafperated, and the
Romans fnatching the opportunity of their refentment; or rather of their
foil}'",
made an
alliance
with
them, entered Greece, and armed it againft Philip^
This prince was defeated at the battle of Cynocephalae, and the vl<ftory
valour of the ^^.tolians
upon
this,
:
was
fo
partly gained by the
mAich was he intimidated
that he concluded a treaty,
which was
not fo properly a peace,, as the renouncing his own
ftrength ; for he evacuated hisgarrifonsin all Greece,
{a)
See Polyb.
who
relates tlie urjufl and crael
which Philip loA the favour of the people.
aprons by

63. Roman Empire.
delivered
up
his fliips,
63
and bound himfelf under an
a ihoufand talents in ten year^.
obligation of paying
Polybius compares, with his ufiial good fenfe,
the. difpofition of the Roman armies with that of
the {a) Macedonians,
who
which was obferved by ail the
he points out the
fucceeded Alexander
;
kings
conveniencies as well as inconveniencies of the phalanx and of the legion : he prefers the difpofition
ufed by the
Romans,
in
which he very probably was
fince all the battles fought at that time iliew
right,
it to have been preferable.
The
fuccefs,
which the Romans obtained over
Philip, w^as the greateft ftep they ever
a general conqueft
:
took towards
make
fure of Greece, they
poiiible to deprefs the ^to-
to
employed all methods
lians, by whofe afiiilance they had been vitftorious %
they ordained, moreover, that every city of Greece,
which had been fubjecl to Philip, or any other ^overeign prince, iliould from that time be governed by its own laws.
It is very evident, that thefe petty commonwealths muft neceffarily be dependent: the Greeks
abandoned themfelves to a ftupid jo^^, and fondly
imagined they were really
free,
becaufe the
Rom-
ans had declared them to be fo.
The
bear
jEtollans,
fway
who had imagined
in Greece, finding they
they fhould
had only brought
{a) A drcumftatice which had contributed very much to the
danger to which the Romans were expofed in the fecond Funic
war, was, Hannibal's prefently arming his foldiers afccr the
Roman manner;
arms or
their
but
way of
tlie
Greeks did
fighting:
riot change either their
and could not prevail with
themfelves to lay afide cuftoms, b)' the obfervance of which
they had perfortaed fuch mig^lity things*

64. ^he Rise and
64
Fall
of the
tbemfclves under fubjetlion^ were feized with the
deepeft grief; and as they had always formed ddperate refolutions, they invited, in order to correct
one extravagance by another, Antiochus king of SyGreece, in the fame manner as they had
before invited the Romans.
The kings of Syria were the moH: powerful of
ria into
Alexander's fucceiTors, they being poficffed of
almofl all the dominions of Darius, Egypt excepall
ted
;
but by the concurrence of feveral circuraflanpower had been much weakened.
ces, their
Seleucus,
who founded
deflroyed, towards the
the Syrian empire, had
end of his life, the
latter
kingdom of Lyfimachus.
During the feuds and
took up arms; the
dijflraftions,
of Pergamus, of Cappadocia and of Bikingdoms
thynia, ftarted up ; but thefe petty, fearful ftates
always confidered the depreffion of their former
makers as the making of their own fortune.
feveral provinces
As the kings of Syria always beheld, with a mod:
invidious eye, the felicity of the kingdom of Egypt,
they bent their v/hole thoughts to the conqueft o?
that country; by this means, neglecting the eafi^
they were difpoffelfed of feveral provinces there,
and but indifferently obeyed in the refV.
In fine, the kings of Syria pofTefled upper and
lower Afia
but experience has (hewn, that in this
the capital city and the chief forces are
in the lower provinces of Afia, there is no poflibi-
cafe,
;
when
of maintaining the upper ones; and on the contrary, when the feat of the empire is in the upper
provinces, the monarch weakens himfelf by main-
lity
taining the lower ones.
]S either
the Periian
Syrian empires v/ere ever fo powerful as that
nor
of the
-»

65. Roman
E m
p
i
r
e.^
65
though thcfe reigned over but part of the
formed the dominions of thofe two
provinces which
powers. Had Cyrus not conquered the kingdom of
Lydia had Seleucus continued in Babylon, and let
Parthians,
;
of Antigonus
the fuccefTors
vinces, the Greeks
poffefs the
maritime pro-
would never have conquered the
Perfian empire, nor the Romans that of Seleucus^
Nature has prefcribed certain limits to dates, pur-
pofely to mortify the ambition of mortals : when
the Romans ftepped beyond thofe limits, the greatfll part of them were deflroyed by the Parthians
(a)
when
;
the Parthians prefumed to pafs thera^
they were forced immediately to retire back ; and
in our days, fuch Turks, as advanced be3'ond thofe
boundaries, were obliged to return whence they
came.
The
kings of Syria and Egypt had, in their refpe<ftlve dominions, two kinds of fubje6ls, viflorious
cations, and nations vanquifhed; the former, flill
were ruled
were not fired with
very ^reat diificulty they
fpirit of independence which animates us to
puffed
V^ith
that
up with
the idea
of
their origin,
;
flaake olf the
makes us
yoke, but with that impatience which
change our fovereign.
But the chief weaknefs of the kingdorq of Syria
fprung from that of the court, where fuch monarchs
vviih to
prciided as were fucceflors to Darius, not to Alexander. Luxury, vanity, and effeminacy, which have
prevailed through
umphed more
(a)
I
all
ages in the Afiatic courts, triof Syria : the evil
particularly in that
have given the reafbn of
this in
the xvii. chapter,
borrowed part'y from the geographical di/pofuion of the two
empires,

66. The Rise and Fall of the
the common people and the foldiers,
66
infefted
and:
catched the very Romans themfelves ; fince the war,
in which they engaged againft Antiochus, is the
aera of their corruption.
^uch was the condition of the kingdom of Syria,
when Antiochus, who had performed fuch mighty
things, declared war againft the Romans. But he did
tri^e
not condudl himfelf in
it
with the wifdom which
even emplo3^ed in common affairs Hannibal requefted, either to have the war revived in Italy,
is
:
and
Philip bribed
j
or
elfe that
he might be pre-
upon to ftand neuter. Antiochus did nothe appeared in
follow any part of this advice
vailed
:
Greece with only a fmall part of his forces, and as
though he were come merely to fee the war, not
to carry
it
on, he followed nothing but his pleafures,*
by which means he was defeated and
Afia, terrified rather
Philip,
mans,
as
who was
though
out of
fled
than conquered.
dragged to this war by the Rohad fwept him along, em-
a flood
ployed his whole power in their fervice, and became the inflrument of their victories ; the pleafure of taking vengeance of, and laying wafte iEtolia; the promife made him of lefTening the tri-
bute he paid, and of leaving him the pofTeffion of
certain cities; fome perfonal jealoufy of i^ntiochus;
word, a few inconfiderable motives fwayed his
and not daring fo much as to think
of fhaking off the yoke, he only confidered how
in a
refolutions;
he might beft lighten it.
Antiochus formed fo wrong a judgment of things,
as to fancy that the Romans would not moleft
in Ada ; however, they followed him thither he
*,
him
was
again overcome, and, in his conflernation, confent*
i

67. Roman Empire.
ed to the
67
mofl infamous treaty that ever was con-
cluded by Co mighty a prince.
I cannot recollect any thing fo
magnanimous, as
by a monarch in our days (<?),
to bury himfelf under the ruins of the throne, rafo
ther than accept of terms unworthy of a king
was his foul that he could not floop lower
haughty
a refolution taken
:
than his misfortunes
had thrown him
and he was
;
courage may, but infamy never
freih (Irength to the regal diadem.
give
often meet with princes who have flvill
very fenfible, that
can,
We
enough to light a
battle,
but with very few that
on a war;
of making a proper ufe of
fortune and of waiting for her; and who join to a
frame of mind, which raifes fufpicions before it
have the talents requifite for carrying
who
are equally capable
makes them
executes, fuch a difpofition as
fearlefs
they have once executed.
After the depreiTion of Antiochus, only fome
after
confiderable
if
powers remained,
we
in-
except Egypt,
from the advantageof its fituation, its fertiits commerce, the
great number of its inhability,
tants, its naval and land forces, might have been forwhich,
midable; but the cruelty of
ice, their
ous fenfualities,
je£ls,
part,
It
its
kings, their
avarice, their imbecillity,
made them
and
coward-
their
enorm-
fo odious to their fub-
that they fupported themfelves, for the moft
by the protection of the P.omans.
was a kind of fundamental law, with regard
to the
crown of Egypt,
nity in the
the fifler.
that the fillers fliould fuc-
and
in order to preferve uthe brother was married to
government,
it is fcarce poITible to
figure any
ceed with the brothers
;
Now
(a)
Lewis XIV.

68. 7he Rise
68
thing
more
ajtd
Fall
of the
pernicious in politics than fuch
of rucceffion ; for
an ordef
as all the little domeftic feuds rofe
fo high as to diforder the ftate; whichfoever of the
two parties had the leaft difcontent, immediately
excited againfl the other the inhabitants of Alexandria, a numberlefs multitude, always prepared to
join with the
of
firft
their kings
who
fliould rouze
were for ever princes who
actually reigned, and pretenders to the crown. And
as the kingdoms of Gyrene and Cyprus were gene*
rally poflelTed by other princes of that houfe, who
them
;
fo that
there
laid their refpedlive claims to
means
the throne
of
the whole;
thefe princes
by
was ever
that
totter-
and being indifferently fettled at home, they
had no power abroad.
The forces of the kings of Egypt, like thofe of
the Afiatic monarchs, were compofed of auxiliary
ing;
Greeks. Befides the
fpirit
of glory, which animated
inceflantly
kind.
In
employed
all
wherein the
of liberty, of honour, and
the latter people, they were
in bodily exercifes
of every
games were inftituted,
were crowned in the prefence of
their chief cities
viiflors
Greece, which raifed a general emulation : now,
in an age when combatants fought with arms, the
fuccefs of which depended on their ftrength and
all
dexterity,
it is
natural to fuppofe that
men, thus
excrcifed, mufl: have had a great advantage over a
croud of Barbarians, who were enlifled at random,
and dragged indifcriminately into the
evident from the armies of Darius.
field; as
was
The Romans, in order to deprive the kings of
fuch a body of foldiery, and to bereave them, but
in
an eafy
filent
manner, of
obferved two things:
firft,
their principal forces,
they ellabliihed by
in-

69. Roman Empire,
degrees as a
fenfible
maxim, with
69
refpe^l to all the
of Greece, that they fhould not conclude any
or make war againfl any
alliance, give any fuccour,
cities
ration whatfoever without their confent
in their treaties
:
fecondly,
with {a) kings, they forbad them
any forces from among the allies of the
Romans, by which means, thofe monarchs were
to levy
reduced to employ their national troops only.
CHAPTER
The Condii6i ivhich the
to
Romans
fubdue
DURING
which
it is
ohfervedy in order
all nations,
the courfe
ty, in
VI.
of
fo
mighty
ufual for
a profperi-
mankind to
for-
the fenate continued to a6l with the
get themfelves,
fame depth of judgment ; and whilft their armies
were fpreading an univerfal terror, they would not
fuffer thofe to rife who were once depreffed.
A
which judged all nations: at the
of every war they determined the rewards or
punifliments which every one had merited; they
tribunal arofe
clofe
took away,
from the vanquilhed people,
part
of
and gave them to their allies, in which
did two things ; they engaged, in the interefls
they
of Rome, princes from whom they had little to
fear, and much to hope; and they weakened o-
their lands,
thers
from
whom
they had nothing to hope, and
every thing to fear.
(fl)
They had
before obferved this political condu£l with
whom they obliged by the treaty-
regard to the Carthaginians,
concluded with them,
as
appears
from
to
employ ro longer
a fragment of
Dion,
auxiliary troops,